Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Blake Belanger / Anticipating a thirty five percent population increase over the next thirty years, the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) developed the Creating Sustainable Places: A Regional Plan for Sustainable Development in Greater Kansas City (CSP) as a comprehensive strategy to guide the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Region (KC Metro) to grow sustainably into the future. The Rock Island Corridor (RIC) is one of six key corridors identified by the Smart Moves Regional Transit Vision Alternatives Analysis to be redeveloped with the first phase extending seventeen miles from Downtown Kansas City, MO to Pleasant Hill, MO. Phase one will include a mixed use trail and commuter rail line with the second phase planning to extend the mixed use trail to Windsor, MO; becoming the primary link between the KC Metro and the 238 mile long Missouri Katy Trail State Park. Reactivating the RIC, having zero gateways and untouched for thirty years, suggests the corridor communities will require a true collaboration to develop the gateways as destinations at the proposed commuter rail stations. Involving an artist(s) with the interdisciplinary professionals during the entire gateway development project will allow public art to be more successfully integrated into the proposal from the onset. Proposing collaborative gateway design process guidelines, with background information on public art and the collaborative process, will guide the corridor communities in creating a destination for the RIC and the individual communities “achieving the shared vision of creating more vibrant, connected and green centers and corridors” (MARC CSP 2011, 1). Raytown, Missouri is used as an example demonstrating the materials which should be discussed during the initial design meeting in the collaborative gateway design process between the Consultant Team and the Design Advisory Council. Thinking of the RIC as an alternative transit amenity, establishing a collaborative design process and a general understanding of its components will allow for a true collaborative process to develop a destination for the community, the RIC, and KC Metro. Including public art in the collaborative design process will encourage more community involvement, potentially fostering a greater sense of ownership in the gateway, and personal investment in the community; engaging the residents to establish the foundation for a sustainable community capable of developing socially and economically over time.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Lee R. Skabelund / College and university campuses have the potential to organize buildings, outdoor spaces, pedestrian corridors, roadways, parking lots, and infrastructure all within one cohesive and unified place. Dynamic but unified spaces are typically the result of thoughtful architecture, landscape architecture, and years of planning. Recognizable design styles, material use, and plant palettes work together to create something bigger than simply a collection of buildings, transportation corridors, and outdoor spaces. Each building, group of buildings, series of spaces, transportation feature, and infrastructural component needs to be designed and implemented with the entire campus in mind to be truly successful. When planned correctly, a unified campus can harbor innovation, provide inspiration, and initiate interaction. Stouffer Place Apartments has evolved into a secluded housing development within the midst of the busy University of Kansas (KU) campus. Apartments are only available to graduate students, international students, students with families, non-traditional students, and post-doctoral researchers. Stouffer Place has maintained a quiet and peaceful atmosphere at the corner of 19th and Iowa in Lawrence, Kansas since 1957. Like so many of the university housing developments built after World War II, Stouffer Place is full of aging infrastructure, providing the basis for a discussion of a new or renovated development on the site (Casey-Powell 1999, 86). Not only are the aging Stouffer Place buildings an eyesore to many people in the community, but their existing arrangement limits community interaction and shared space. Additionally, many of the Stouffer Place apartment buildings are near the end of their lifetime, but they can they be recycled, reused, and deconstructed to create dynamic spaces for the residents. In short, Stouffer Place can be redeveloped to create a new model of affordable, sustainable, and self-sufficient on-campus apartments that attract and retain students as well as create a higher quality of life. With the growing trend of sustainable building practices, KU’s Department of Student Housing (DSH) has an immense opportunity to transform this student community into a model for other universities nationwide. By implementing a design strategy that successfully reuses and phases out the existing built infrastructure of the site, a place that facilitates sustainable living and community interaction will be created. Through this project, the culture and identity of Stouffer Place is revealed and catalyzed, using the missions of KU and DSH to create a plan that supports, sustains, and creates.